What are we made of?

Substance is an affordable marketing firm for companies or organizations that answer to a higher calling. When it’s not just business as usual, when it’s more than a job, more is required of marketing. Substance helps organizations that operate on a budget to translate passion, vision, and energy into meaningful interactions with new and existing customers.

Grow or go home.

That’s a bold statement. Hence the bold font. But serious – what is the point in putting forth an average effort with your marketing and branding? Why not put some thought into your growth strategy, be efficient about acquiring customers and have fun at the same time. To us it’s a win-win and not just the type where you can have it all and work from home selling classified ads.

Affordable?

Yes you read that right. We cost less than traditional “agency” because we want you to pay for innovative ideas, good design and direct action results, not our office with the great view of downtown.

What you’ll get working with Substance is down to earth marketing and earnest action to achieve your goals.

The Team

Substance is a team of rivals each bringing to the table expertise in different marketing disciplines. We are:

Geoff Schwarten

Geoff credits 4 years at Clif Bar & Co with igniting his passion for smaller, triple-bottom line businesses. After leaving Clif Bar, Geoff moved to South Africa to help lead a non-profit using the sport of basketball for social change. Upon his return, Geoff led the re-launch of the Better World Books brand and e-commerce web site, contributing to explosive growth for the brand.

Geoff graduated from Lehigh University and spends spare time outdoors reading, surfing, or biking.

Justin Brandon

Justin is a world-traveling, documentary film-making, online marketing specialist who got his start as an employee at Google on their “Search Quality” team.  He left Google to join Better World Books, where he worked closely with Geoff in setting BetterWorldBooks.com in motion as an established global brand.

Justin is an award-winning filmmaker who has directed documentary films in Haiti and Ghana.  He has a B.A. from the University of Notre Dame.